New Sweden
by Carmen Reese
Summary: During the 17th century, quite a few countries seemed to be obsessed with getting a share of the new land now known as North America. Even Sweden had hopped on the bandwagon and created a colony named 'New Sweden'. He wasn't very good with names. But as it turned out, the colony was a failure. Sweden assumed that his little colony had perished. But what if she survived...?


Sweden looked upon the new settlers as they worked to build and start a new life there. He was standing upon a hill where he and Finland had spent the night. Down below, his and Finland's people bustled below.

The sun was at high-noon and shown bright without a cloud in sight. The day was heating up quite nicely as Sweden could feel the sun's rays on his skin. As far as the eye could see there were forests and lakes. The raw beauty of mother nature, untouched by man.

This land was trully beautiful. And it was an absolutely gorgeous day.

Sweden new he should go down to the settlers and help them but he couldn't help admiring the scenery that lay before him.

There was still one thing that kept nagging him however...

He had been here for almost two weeks and they still havn't seen any sign of--

"Mr. Sweden?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the familiar voice that he new and loved. He didn't turn to face him but he could see Finland from the corner of his eye. He was standing right at his side, _right where he should always be._ Sweden thought to himself.

He didn't do anything to acknowledge his presence but Finland could tell that he was listening; he still hesitated.

"H-how are you today, Mr. Sweden...?"

Finland tried to start up a conversation with a close-eyed smile. By this time, he knew that Sweden wasn't much of a talker but Finland continued to try. He didn't know why he did though. Sweden replied with a simple 'bra' and said no more.

Finland sighed. He was always hoping to get a little more more out of him because something seemed to be bothering him. He didn't press the subject, however, and decided to talk about something else. Again, he hesitated before he spoke.

"Have...have you decided what you will name the new colony yet?" he asked, genuinely curious. They were here to colonize the new land after some of the other empires had started to do it. Well, it was Sweden who was making a colony, Finland was just here for the ride.

"New Sweden..." Finland heard him mumble. _W-what?! That's really what he's going with? _Finland thought.

"Haha...A-are you sure Mr. Sweden? That names a little..." he trailed off as Sweden turned to stare at him. His stare was still so scary and intimidating and Finland was still not used to it, "Y-you know what? I think it's a great name! Yup, don't worry...!"

Seemingly content with Finland's answer, Sweden turned his attention back to the bottom of the hill. In all honesty, Sweden had turned to see Finland's true reaction. He valued his opinions very highly. He was doubting the name himself but if Finland approved of it...

Finland had noticed that Sweden had become more stiff than he already was when they started talking about the colony. Was he having doubts about it's success? Were there some complications? Finland followed Sweden's gaze down to the settlement while racking his brain for all the possibilities that could be bothering Sweden. Then suddenly he remembered meeting England earlier that day with that random child...and a sudden light bulb went off in his head.

"You're not worried about finding the personification, are you?" he asked, taking close note at any changes in Sweden demeanor.

"Hn," was Sweden's reply. So that was it...!

"Don't worry Mr. Sweden...! He will turn up eventually, I'm sure of it!" Finland said with determination. He wanted to cheer Sweden up. He didn't like it when he was in distress.

Sweden looked at Finland and his adorable little determined smile and shining eyes. His optimism was all that it took to bring sweden's hopes up. A small smile graced his lips. The smile did not go unnoticed by Finland so he continued to speak.

"I met with England and France today," Finland explained, "I had seen a small boy wandering around them and I. He was on his own so I asked them about it... They seemed to think that he was a personification and took him in... You don't think he belonged to us, do you?"

It was a few moments before Sweden gave a response by shaking his head.

"Joo, me neither. If he was, he would've gone with me instead of them..."

They stood in there in silence. Sweden sighed, deciding that they should stop lolly-gallying and start helping his people build the settlement. Without a second thought, he grabbed a hold of Finland's hand and started to walk down the hill. Finland became really flustered.

"W-wait--Mr. Sweden? W-what are we doing?" he exclaimed.

"To help them..." Sweden said. By them, he meant the settlers. Finland regained his posture and smiled, nodding. They continued to walk up to the people, when thet got close enough for the people to notice them, Sweden let go of Finland's hand. He walked up to one of the men and Finland followed. He asked about what they could help with. The man told him that they could use some help with food since they were running low on their supply. Sweden in turn, asked him where the weaponry was.

Finland could see that Sweden planned to go hunt for some food. He wanted to go hunting too but he didn't see any farms anywhere.

"Have you established any crop yet?" Finland asked, hoping that the answer would be yes. The man replied with a 'no' so Finland was thoroughly disappointed. He could go hunting with Sweden, but he knew that some farms needed to be created so he asked where to find the farming tools.

The man ended up directing them to the same place. Apparently, they kept their weapons and tools in one shed. Handy.

Sweden and Finland made their way to the end of the settlement where the man told them to go. They soon came across a relatively medium sized walk-in shed. Although...Sweden was to talk for the doorway Finland took note. He would have to duck his head.

Sweden went to open the door. He ducked his head and started to walk inside. Finland expected him to continue walking but he stopped in his tracks, causing Finland to bump into him.

"S-sorry for bumping into you, Mr. Sweden. But... why did you stop?" He asked, trying to peek around him to see if anything was in there.

In fact there was something there. Not just a something, but _someone. _It was a little girl. At least, Finland assumed she was a girl. Sometimes you just couldn't tell.

The girl herself wasn't the reason why Sweden had stopped in his tracks. He stopped because the little girl was holding a _bow and arrow, all the while, aiming it at him. _Sweden wasn't worried about her shooting him, however. There was no way she would be able to shoot that arrow. The weapon was way to big for her size, she could barely hold it.

She stared at Sweden with cold, narrowed eyes. She stood up a little straighter to try to intimidate him. It was funny how much she resembled Sweden. That stare of hers definitely belonged to him. Her hair and eyes were lighter shades compared to his but still...

Her little antics to try to scare Sweden only seemed to amuse him.

"What is your name?" he asks.

The little girl scrunched up her eyebrows and looked at her feet as though she was thinking but she didn't say anything. Sweden figured that she didn't have a name then.

"New Sweden?" he asks again.

Her head shot up to look at Sweden in surprise. She never heard of it before...but 'New Sweden' seemed to be just right. She didn't do anything but stare at Sweden with curiosity. This seemed to be enough of a confirmation for him because he walked up to her and took the weapon from her hands. She reached up to try and grab it again but didn't put up any fight. He held out his hand to New Sweden. She looked between his face and his hand before deciding to take it.

"My daughter..." he suddenly said, then turning his attention to Finland, "My wife..."

And cue a flustered Finland, a somewhat smiling Sweden and an emotionless child.

_Is this what creating a family feels like?_

* * *

Bra: Swedish for 'fine'

Joo: Finnish for 'yes'


End file.
